The Public Finance Council (CFP) concludes that the Regional Business Sector of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (SERAA) closed 2024 with a marked deterioration in results, despite growth in activity.

The aggregate net result of the analyzed entities declined from –€41.6 million in 2023 to –€93.3 million in 2024, despite a 7.3% increase in turnover (from €705.9 million to €757.6 million). Still, relevant operating costs rose even more sharply, from €928.6 million to €1,033.6 million (11.3%).

This imbalance, the CFP notes, penalized the main performance and financial robustness indicators, with a decline in financial autonomy (from 26.5% to 22.7%) and solvency (from 36.0% to 29.4%) in the Azorean regional business sector.

The report, prepared with information available up to November 11, 2025 and covering the 2023–2024 biennium, also frames the evolution of the SERAA in terms of its weight in the regional economy. In 2024, 19 companies were identified in the Azores within the regional business sector, employing 7,600 workers (around 6.5% of regional employment). The sector’s gross value added accounted for 7.6% of the Azores’ Gross Domestic Product, 0.6 percentage points lower than in 2023.

The Region’s equity participation in the SERAA, including direct and indirect holdings, remained at €560 million in the Azores.

The CFP’s analysis identifies a central factor behind the Azorean deterioration: transport and storage, the sector with the greatest weight in the archipelago, where losses clearly worsened. Across the transport companies in the SERAA, the net result declined from –€36.7 million in 2023 to –€83.1 million in 2024. Within this segment, SATA Azores Airlines recorded –€71.2 million, while SATA Air Açores posted –€11.6 million; Portos dos Açores recorded –€0.9 million, and Atlânticoline achieved a positive result of +€0.8 million.

In the aggregate portrait of the SERAA, the CFP emphasizes that the decline in the net result is “essentially” attributable to a €47.2 million deterioration in the SATA Group’s performance. Of the 18 companies analyzed in the Azores, only four reported positive results in 2024, totaling €23.0 million. The largest positive contributions came from the Electricidade dos Açores (EDA) Group: EDA Renováveis (€10.8 million) and EDA (€10.4 million), although these results are not consolidated in the overall total.

In the consolidated accounts of SATA Holding (excluding SATA Azores Airlines), the CFP states that, despite a slight increase in activity, losses worsened because cost growth outpaced business growth. Personnel expenses increased by €7.1 million, and supplies and external services by €6.5 million, notably maintenance and leasing of replacement engines. The consolidated net result deteriorated to –€30.5 million in 2024, and the group maintained negative equity (from –€197.6 million to –€300.0 million), in what the report describes as a reinforcement of “technical insolvency.”

The CFP also notes that in 2024, SATA Air Açores and SATA Gestão de Aeródromos were incorporated into the regional budgetary perimeter, with a direct impact on aggregates such as public expenditure and public debt.

Regarding the financial relationship with the public shareholder, the CFP records that the net financial effort of the Regional Government with the business sector (excluding transfers to health, for methodological harmonization) increased in 2024 to €93.5 million (€18.4 million more than in 2023), equivalent to 1.6% of regional GDP.

Expenditure allocated to the sector totaled €97.0 million, with the report identifying the increase in capital transfers, “especially” to SATA Air Açores (+€15.1 million compared to 2023), as a determining factor. On the revenue side, dividends received by the Region amounted to €3.5 million, with the variation explained by EDA and its subsidiaries, in which the Region holds 50.1% of the share capital.

In summary, the CFP describes a regional business sector in the Azores that is experiencing growth. Still, costs are rising faster, with the fragility of air transport weighing on indicators of autonomy and solvency and requiring greater financial intervention by the Regional Government. This is presented as a budgetary risk signal, which the report associates with high dependence on external capital and limited borrowing capacity when equity is insufficient to support medium- and long-term obligations.

In Diário dos Açores-Paulo Viveiros, director

Translated into English as a community outreach program by the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL), in collaboration with Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno. PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.